Posts Tagged ‘polka dot’

I'm finally all caught up on work stuff and have a new Wear This to kick off the week. Did you have a good weekend by the way? Anybody watch the Super Bowl?

Sarahwas kind enough to take photographs for me once again (I wish I could work with her on absolutely everything - she is so awesome) and we ended up shooting across the street from a local restaurant. Naturally, that meant that there were some people walking by while I was doing weird dance moves, strange jumps, and fake running.

Totally normal, right? It was...very interesting.

I feel like I should probably mention that it's not everyday that I wear a skirt (or tights for that matter). Let's face it, I'm not that fancy nine times out of ten. BUT I would totally wear this outfit to a business meeting. It's super comfortable, but not too casual - which in my mind, is the perfect combo for something like that.

P.S. Thank you so much for all the sweet comments and tweets on the first installment of Wear This. It's always a little bit scary trying something new, even something as frivolous as a new blog column. But you guys made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Thank you! You are awesome.

Things have been ramping up around here lately, which is great! I've been working on more involved projects (with a photographer + model) to share very soon. Which is allowing me to spend more time on the concept and styling.

But as things get more and more busy around here, it has become more and more difficult to get everything done all by my lonesome. Especially with all the plans I have for Paper & Stitch as it continues to grow. Sooo, I decided it was time to hire someone to help me out. And that someone is Amanda Toman (who also happens to be my sister-in-law: keepin' it in the fam!). You can follow Amanda on Instagram and Twitter.

You've probably already seen Amanda around here, modeling for a few DIY shoots (here and here), but she is also helping me behind the scenes with mailers, gift guides for the exhibition site, etc. Yay! Which means I will have more time to bring you more awesome projects /original content and tackle some things I would never be able to do on my own. AND I also get a new DIY contributor out of the deal because Amanda will be contributing yummy recipes and fashion DIYs on a regular basis as well. Her first recipe goes up tomorrow.

As I'm sure you'll see, Amanda is a pretty cool girl, with loads of talent (and fashion sense). I'm so happy to have her around here helping out and I hope you'll join me in making her feel welcome!

On that note, I wanted to do something special to welcome Amanda to P & S. So I set up a little summer shoot with her and made some DIY props that I thought you might be interested in recreating for the last few pool parties before summer comes to a close. Here's how to make painted summer beach balls...

All you need is a big bouncy ball or beach ball (I picked mine up from Target for $3 a piece), acrylic paint and a paint brush. You can paint directly onto the balls with a message or design. Customize them for pool parties, birthdays, and more. So easy! Note: If you want to use them around water (in the pool or at the beach), you may want add a spray sealant once the paint is fully dry.

There are a few birthdays coming up in my family, so I have gifting on the brain. BUT I have a very limited supply of gift wrapping supplies right now since most of our stuff is still in storage. So I rummaged around in my backpack and found a few things to play around with and I came up with these hand painted color block gift tags.

Materials:

small gift tags (or make your own) *Paper and Present has a good selection.

Step by Step Instructions:

1. Painted color block technique - This one is pretty straight forward. Just grab you paint pen and get to work, drawing stripes or other designs. Make sure you think about your color scheme before you get started. I tried a few colors before I landed on hot pink paint for the tags.

2. Polka dot technique - Grab your adhesive circle labels and stick them where ever you want on your tag. Then paint over the entire gift tag with your paint pen and let it dry. Carefully remove the stickers and touch up if necessary.

Here are the finished tags...

I used a stamp on a few of the tags as well. I don't use my stamps enough. I really need to start using them more.

So what do you think?

Will you try these color block gift tags the next time you are wrapping a pressie?